A Kiss At Midnight
by Brown Eyes Parker
Summary: They're 10 when they spend their first New Year's Eve together at Archie's house. Fred gives them permission to stay up to watch the ball drop, so they are hyped up on caffeine and sugar as a way to escape drowsiness. Or all the times Jughead and Betty spend New Year's Eve together.


**Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

 **Rated: T**

 **.**

" _they say you can hear it over the island, starting in time square and spreading throughout, a roar like the ocean, it comes from a distance, grows louder then turns quiet."_

Regina Spektor, Happy New Year

They're 10 when they spend their first New Year's Eve together at Archie's house. Fred gives them permission to stay up to watch the ball drop, so they are hyped up on caffeine and sugar as a way to escape drowsiness. Archie is bouncing off the walls, singing "I Knew You Were Trouble" along with Taylor Swift. His red hair is sticking up on end as he says _trouble, trouble_ , _trouble_ over and over again. He's holding an empty bottle of 16 ounce Coke like a microphone as he stands on the coffee table.

Betty, always the good girl, is anxiously trying to get him to get down. Jughead observes them from his place on the couch, taking it all in, and writing it down in his spiral bound notebook so he doesn't forget a detail.

Mostly he chronicles Betty and the way she looks in the multi-colored Christmas lights strung on the Christmas tree while she pleads with Archie to get off the coffee table before he falls off and needs to get stitches. Later on, when she kisses him on the cheek at 12:01 and giggles _Happy New Year_ in his ear, he doodles _Mrs. Betty Jones_ in the margins of his journal but he can't find much else to write or how to explain the fluttering feeling in the pit of his stomach.

Later on, he realizes he fell in love with her during those chaotic first few minutes of the New Year but had been too young to realize it.

 **.**

 _10\. . ._

14-year-old Jughead watches his peers start to countdown to the New Year, waving champagne glasses of sparkling white grape juice in the air. They're at a Blossom Twins party and the only reason he and Betty were invited was because Polly and Archie were respectively. They're third and fourth wheeling it.

 _9\. . ._

Everyone is coupling up and he's the odd one out again. But suddenly, Betty is by his side all bubble pink smiles and pastel blue lace as she hands him a flute of juice.

"I was looking for you!" she whispers.

"Is Archie otherwise engaged?" Jughead asks, surprised by the bitterness in his voice.

"Yeah but I was looking for you even before he found Ginger," Betty answers, not looking the least bit offended even though she has every right to be.

"Oh. . ."

"I kind of feel out of place," she admits. "I wish we were back at Archie's house, just the three of us."

Jughead knows how she feels, the two of them are not very popular. Even though Betty is well-liked by most of her fellow students and on almost every freshman committee, she's still not invited to most parties or asked out on dates by any of the boys. None of them. . . not even Archie will try to steal a kiss when the clock strikes 12.

 _7, 6, 5. . ._

Jughead wonders if he should try or if he should just give her one on the cheek. The way she's looking at him, it could go either way.

 _4, 3, 2, 1. . ._

Everything happens at once, she kisses him quickly on the corner of his mouth and pulls away, blushing slightly as Josie breaks into _Auld Lang Syne_ with her baby Mariah Carey vocals.

" _Should old acquaintance be forgot and never brought to mind, should old acquaintance be forgot for old Lang Syne. . ."_ she sings as everyone joins in except for Jughead and Betty.

Jughead's heart is in his throat.

"Happy New Year," she says only loud enough for him to hear.

"Happy New Year," Jughead replies automatically.

"I should go and find Archie," Betty tells him. "To wish him a Happy New Year."

Jughead nods. "Tell him that I'll find him later."

He watches her disappear into the crowd of people and sighs as he downs his drink, the fizz burning the back of his throat. He watches as Betty hugs Archie briefly and then gently squeeze Ginger's arm even though the other girl doesn't really like her.

She returns a few seconds later. "I called my mom to come pick us up. Do you want to get out of here?"

Jughead nods, he's tired of people ignoring them and trying to pretend they fit in when they really don't. She takes his hand and together, they go find their coats and wait outside for Mrs. Cooper, somewhere in the distance fireworks go off.

 **.**

When they are 16, they spend New Year's Eve apart. Jughead watches Carson Daly on NBC. Taylor Swift performs an intimate piece at the piano in a silvery mini dress and the song makes him think about Betty on the Northside.

He looks for the remote to mute the television but by the time he locates it, she's done singing and Carson is previewing the next season of _the Voice_. There's some obvious placed shade directed at the reboot of American Idol and then, it's the countdown to 2018.

Beside him, his father dozes, exhausted from the double-shift he worked at Pop's.

At exactly 12am, his phone goes off. There's a text with a pair of emoji lips from Betty, a fill-in for a New Year's Eve kiss, he supposes. It's followed quickly by _"Happy New Year, Juggie!"_

He types " _Happy New Year, Betts"_ in reply and then deletes it. He remembers a line from the Taylor Swift song and quickly plugs them into his phone. He presses send before he can talk himself out of doing something so mainstream.

She texts back, _"you too Juggie."_

 **.**

"How upset do you think Veronica is at us right now?" Betty asks as she blows her nose for the 10th time in a row.

They are 21 and spending their first real New Year's Eve in New York City. They had planned to go to Veronica's big party but had to cancel at the last minute when Betty came down with a runny nose and sore throat between December 26th and the 31st. So, instead of champagne and club songs, they were spending the night with Ryan Seacrest and Chinese takeout.

"I'm sure she understands," Jughead assures her as he divides the teriyaki chicken between the two of them.

Betty looks at her cocktail dress hanging from her closet longingly and sighs. "It was a great dress, I wish you could have seen me in it."

"I'll make sure you get the chance to show off," Jughead promises.

"You know there's still time for you to go to the party if you wanted to," Betty tells him.

"No way!" Jughead says. "I'm not putting a bowtie on if I don't have to. Besides, I wouldn't enjoy myself knowing you were here all by yourself."

Betty smiles at him and takes a sip of the spicy soup they ordered. "Thank you," she replies.

When the clock strikes 12, she's half asleep thanks to a good dose of Nyquil. He helps her brush her teeth and gives her a kiss before sliding into bed next to her. It's comfortable and he wants to spend the rest of his life doing it.

"Happy New Year, Juggie," Betty murmurs as he wraps his arms around her.

 **.**

When they are 25, they get married on New Year's Eve. Jughead makes vows, fragments of a dozen different conversations and Taylor Swift lyrics from years ago.

The minister presiding over the ceremony times it perfectly so they can kiss at midnight.

When the kiss ends, Betty smiles at him and whispers, "Happy New Year, Juggie," in his ear like she'd been doing every New Year's Day for the past 15 years.

Jughead grins. "Happy New Year, Mrs. Jones!" he replies.

 **The End**

 **.**

 **Author's Note:**

 **Happy New Year to all my lovely readers, there are fewer than you when I started posting Bughead fan fiction but I'm so thankful for the people who stuck around. I hope 2018 is wonderful and a lot better than 2017 was for most of us. I'll see you with more chapters and stories soon!**

 **Until Next Time!**

 **Lots of Love,**

 **Holly, 12/31/2017**


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